I Hate Valentine's Day
by SinsofMidnight
Summary: When Cloud finds a valentine written by Genesis, he knows that he has to do something before the two men let love pass them by... T for mentions of a threesome. Should be citrusy! Genesis/Angeal. Inspired by two letters written by ShadowHaloedAngel (dA) and Phoneix-Faerie (dA).
1. The Lament of the Lovers - CLOUD

_Well, I feel like I need to keep proving I'm alive -probably because there are some excited fans waiting on chapters that will not write for other stories ._

_So, this one... well, read the author babble and find out!_

_Oh, and keep an eye on chapter titles to see what point of view I'm using!_

* * *

**I Hate Valentine's Day**

_**Fandom:**__Final Fantasy VII_

_**Teaser:**__ "__So this year, I hate Valentine's Day. Because I have a choice to make: do I meddle in the lives of my friends, or do I let them both continue to pretend that it isn't there?"_

_**Inspiration:**__Two pieces that are interconnected: ShadowHaloedAngel's "Valentine Confession" and Phoneix-Faerie's "Belated Valentine". Both pieces are posted on dA._

_**Rating:**__T, for mentions of a menage trois and a pair of schemers._

_**Warnings:**__  
-Male/Male  
-Sweary words  
-Scheming/Lies  
-Quotes from the previous parts  
-Strange romantics...  
-A Hot Date_

_**Main Pairing:**__Genesis Rhapsodos/Angeal Hewley_

_**Minor Pairings:  
**__-Cloud Strife/Sephiroth/Zack Fair_

_**Setting:**__Crisis Core-ish setting._

_**POV:**__Cloud, since it's his scheme, and probably the lovers (Angeal and Genesis). First person perspective._

_**Summary:**__When Cloud finds a valentine written by Genesis, he knows that he has to do something before the two men let love pass them by..._

_**Additional Ans:**__This story is sort of my birthday gift to myself (because I wrote all of the first POV and most of the second on that day). I have been promising this story since the first time I read the compositions by Phoneix-Faerie (dA) and ShadowHaloedAngel (dA), but I kept psyching myself out. I loved the letters and I didn't feel as though my writing would complement and/or unify the pieces.  
Still, there's little more to do at 1 am than to get gutsy, right? Lol  
Also! There is a bit of focus on the minor pairing, since it's an important part of our narrator and his state of mind... Hope you don't mind!_

_**Universe:**__I would call this the third and final instalment in the "Valentines" Universe, even though this part is my only contribution~_

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I really hate Valentine's Day. Just not for any of the _normal_ reasons that _normal_ people hate it.

All of the First Class SOLDIERs got flooded with notes and gifts and letters. They, afterall, were high profile celebreties and Shinra used them to recruit each new batch of cadets.

As the designated "best friend" and the one person in the group that could go out without being practically stalked, I took it as my duty to handle their Valentine's Day fan-mail and all it entailed. That meant I sorted every single thing into neat piles based on the level in which they came in on the "I'm a Stalker; Ask Me How" scale. As such, I screened each and every letter, patted down each stuffed toy to make sure there was nothing dangerous before donating them to the charity of the recipient's choice, and I just threw out the chocolates because that was too much of a hassle to deal with. Instead, I bought or made them new chocolates –enough to keep them happy _and_ to keep them from asking about the chocolates sent by fans.

Still, in a sea of creepy, cult-ish fan-mail, some things still stand out.

It had been a year since I'd found that first letter.

Angeal had the soul of a battlefield poet and had not one inkling it was there. If anyone had told me 'without you, I would only be half a man', I would drop everything and run to them. It made me sad that Genesis didn't seem to return Angeal's deep feelings.

Well, it had until this morning, when I opened the letter Genesis composed in reply.

I'd noticed the way Genesis had stayed strangely close to Angeal in the past year, as Angeal tried to put a little distance between them. Genesis' action had puzzled me a great deal –especially in parallel to Angeal's reaction. But now... now it made sense.

Still, I wasn't sure if I wanted to pass this letter on to Angeal or not.

It's not like I have feelings for either man. In fact, I was pretty sure I could name two or three people that would be utterly heartbroken if that were the case.

No, it's because I _knew_ these men. Just as Genesis had, Angeal would fold this letter up and keep it close to his heart. Both men would acknowledge that their feelings reached the other, then let it lie. They would stay friends and comrades and brothers-in-arms, but neither of them would take that next step –the one that added "lovers" to their list of shared labels and made both men as whole and complete as they would ever be.

Even if they couldn't see it, I knew that the men completed each other and complemented each other in ways that most people only dream about having with a partner. So what if they were both men, both high-profile SOLDIERs, both so used to hiding their feelings? It was time to _let them out_, damn it, before those feelings ate at them and destroyed them!

So this year, I hate Valentine's Day.

Because I have a choice to make: do I meddle in the lives of my friends, or do I let them both continue to pretend that it isn't there?

Sighing, I laid my head on the table where I was still sorting things.

A warm hand ruffled my hair. "Cloud, what is the matter?"

Lifting my head, I gave Sephiroth a small smile. "It's the normal Valentine's Day rush. I'm just trying to get everything sorted out for tomorrow."

He arched a brow at me.

Sephiroth was a master of wordless communication. He was also quite brilliant at getting me to say things I didn't want to say.

I sighed. "I have these two friends, you see? One of them sent a valentine to the other last year and I know the other composed a reply to deliver this year. Unfortunately, I also know these two will just... ignore the fact they love each other if left to their own devices. So, do I push or to I let them be?"

"Push." A tender smile crossed his lips as he pushed a tuft of hair out of my face. "Forever is a long time to be alone."

I captured his hand and pressed a light kiss to the pale skin. "Thank you, Seph."

Those smiling lips pressed lightly against my brow. "Do you need help arranging things?"

"Nah, Zack will enjoy being blamed for the meddling. You should rest. Didn't you just get back from a mission?" I knew damn well he'd just gotten back: I counted the moments while he was away and prayed to every deity I knew that he would come back to us safely.

"...I cannot seem to sleep here without you and Zack," he admitted, his brilliant gaze cast toward the floor as heat rose to crest his cheekbones with color.

Taking his hands in mine, I allowed myself to smile at him. It was bizarre how cute he was when he was embarrassed, but then again, some might think it rather bizarre that _I_ was sleeping with both Zack _and_ Sephiroth. "Perhaps we should take a shower, then? Zack isn't due back for another hour or so..."

I wondered if he would protest. For a while, he'd had trouble seeing beyond us as a threesome when I wanted to love on him without our third.

"What about your scheme?" he inquired coyly, though a flash of heat danced in his eyes.

"Ah, Zack can take care of them later," I told my lover, tugging him toward the bathroom. "Right now, I just want you all to myself."

"I believe I might be able to comply with such a request," he returned, a husky edge entering his normally carefully modulated tone.

Our clothes fell away as we made our way to the bathroom, and the heat of his hand in mine and his lips against my skin banished all coherent thought for a while.

* * *

_I wrote this bit on my birthday (more than a week ago), but I didn't feel right posting without another piece complete..._

_I'm trying something a little different for me. Each "chapter" is around 1000 words each and the perspective changes chapter to chapter. Chapter 1 is Cloud. Chapter 2 will be Genesis._

_I know that a chunk of this chapter has nothing to do with my plot or my main couple... I just wanted it there, alright? Sue me._  
_Actually, don't. I'm ridiculously broke..._

_Anyway! Please tell me what you liked, what you hated, what you'd like to see happen in this story... anything, pretty much. Just leave me a review. Reviews keep the trained monkeys pecking away at their typewriters!_

_Ever at your pleasure (and my own amusement),_  
_~Sins~_


	2. The Lover's Tattoo - GENESIS

_I know I'm not giving it much of a rest... I just wanted to have two chapters up so you could see chapter titles..._

_Anyway, my doves! I welcome you to chapter 2 of the out-of-season Valentine's Day fic!_

* * *

I paced across the length of my apartment, my mind still wrapped around the letter I'd composed.

Had I said everything? Had I been clear enough? Did I convey my feelings, my heart?

Oh, sweet Mother Gaia, I wanted that letter back so I could burn it!

By the tears of the Goddess, this was turning me into a nervous wreck!

_If your precious Angeal could see you now..._ Mocked the dark voice in one corner of my mind.

Angeal had been the one to teach me strength and honor. How could my strength abandon me now, when his had never left him over the course of the last year –a year that had been likely spent wondering if I could ever feel the same way about him and if our long friendship would come to an end if I couldn't– even through the strain and the ruts and the trials?

It had taken me a year to even screw up the courage to _send_ that response! I couldn't imagine the strength of will and bravery that it would have taken to write that _first_ letter, as Angeal had!

It had been the sweet Banora White wine and the hour that had given me the mutable courage, I was certain. Writing a love letter like an adolescent girl was always _so_ much easier at 0200 hours. That was why I had a collection of love letters and longing poetry and angst-ridden prose in neatly labeled boxes beneath my bed –because I found that sleep deserted me at that hour and that he was always the one thing on my mind.

That response should have been little more than another letter in another sealed envelope in this year's box. After all, I had composed over fifty replies to that letter, none of which I ever sent. I blamed the sweet apple wine –a gift from Angeal, if I were honest– for the courage it took to place the stamp in the corner and slip it into the mail slot. I certainly had never had the courage to do so without it!

The adolescent exercise of pressing kisses the the envelope felt even more childish as I thought about that letter the night before it would be delivered to him. I felt the heat rise in my cheeks but didn't waste much care upon it, since there was no one to see it.

I knew that letter sat in the apartment Sephiroth shared with his two young lovers. If I had the "balls the size of a chocobo's head" that Zackary had often accused me of having, I would have slipped in and stolen my letter back, only to seal it away with the others. However, Sephiroth had just returned form his mission and I had no doubt that he and his lovers were celebrating that return in the way that all lovers should. Gaia knew, those three weren't exactly picky about where they went about their.. ah, _mating_ after such a lengthy separation.

Without a doubt, I knew that the letter would be laid in Angeal's large hands on the morrow. Unfortunately, all of my doubts were tied up in his reaction to it. What would he do, knowing that his feelings weren't one-sided? Had he perhaps stopped loving me some time during this year?

Sick at heart, I reached for the familiar copy of "LOVELESS" –my favorite copy, in fact– and opened the pale volume. There, butting up to the spine of the book, was his letter to me. The paper was softer and a little more ragged, but I loved that letter. He wasn't the most eloquent man the Goddess had ever set on the face of Gaia, but be damned if it was the blunt and awkward words that were the ones to embed themselves upon my heart.

Lovingly, I unfolded the simple paper and rubbed one thumb against his falterings at the beginning. How like him, to have chosen such simple supplies and to send on such a simple draft!

I'd received thousands of letters from my 'fans' printed or embossed or hand-drawn in Wutian calligraphy on vellum or linen or other more expensive papers. Each one of them had contained all of the artful phrases and metaphors that I could have ever dreamed of receiving.

The paradox of the matter was that my heart was moved by the _simplest_ of these: a single draft with things marked out, on plain paper, written with the plainest words. The others may have stroked my (admittedly very large) ego, but this –this grabbed my heart and captivated me. These were the words tattooed upon my soul.

On a whim, I retrieved my fully stocked calligraphy kit. It had been something I'd fallen in love with while I had been in Wutai and I had practiced everyday to have even a modicum of the skill that I'd seen displayed by various practitioners of the art form. I knew that some devoted their entire lives to this art, and I knew that my work looked like a child's scribbling next to the work of true masters of the art, but I'd learned Wutian calligraphy for myself and not anyone else. The brush-strokes had mesmerized me, along with the simplicity of the figures. It had enamored me that such a small thing could say so much.

I took a deep breath as I fiddled with my brush before opening my ink. What I was about to do... well, honestly, I hadn't done it since I was a child, though it seemed quite fitting that I would do such a childish thing one more for Angeal. Experimentally, I wrote a single word on my forearm and waited to see if the ink would dry –and just how long it took. Satisfied with my results, I bared my torso and stood in front of the mirror. Thank Shiva I knew more than rudimentary Wutian, or I would have to print it all in English across my skin!

It was a slow process, really: reading each sentence to myself, translating it to Wutian, and writing it slowly across my skin –backwards, so another could actually read it.

Still, I thought it quite worth it when I could read the body of his letter across my own body. Better yet, most would have no idea what the words that were giving me courage were.

Something inside of me wanted Angeal to know how much strength his words gave me. Instead, I snapped a picture of it with my phone's camera and and sent a text to the little cadet who had become such a good friend to us all.

"_If I said I wanted to get this tattooed on me, what would you say?"_

His reply came a bit latter, but was still appreciated.

"_I know a great artist who can cut you a good deal. Tomorrow?"_

* * *

_Yeah... the last text messages were a bit of crack... _

_This is to explain why I mentioned on my lj that Genesis' balls are the size of chocobo heads... XD_

_Anywho! The next chapter should be the next day and from Angeal. Double the fun, no? XD_

_Any expectations for chapter 3? Anyone want to know what Genesis wrote on himself? Ask me! I'll get back to any reviewer ((:_

_Ever at your pleasure,  
~Sins~_


End file.
